Going out in Boston can be fun for students from Tufts and other colleges in the area. With so many young people craving a release from academic stress, however, club hopping can be an exercise in claustrophobia as well.
A newly launched Web site, InstantNightLife.com, hopes to revolutionize Boston nightlife by making it easier for people to hit the party scene. Through the Web site, people can have access to real-time updates of different popular clubs to know how long the lines are, the male to female ratios, how packed the dance floors are, the music quality and the cover charges required, among other variables, before they've even left the campus.
"Although going out on the town is fun, it can also be a hassle — long lines, expensive covers, potentially bad music. You never know what you're going to get," Web site founder Kayvan Zainabadi said. "With InstantNightlife.com, we hope to take some of the guesswork out of going out."
The Web site not only provides updates every 10 to 15 minutes, but also features useful basic information about the clubs, such as drink prices and the location of the closest T stop, as well as dress codes, seating availability and crowd type. InstantNightLife.com also has a featured event section that changes every week, as well as photos taken at the different clubs.
The appearance of the Web site has been an immediate success, according to Zainabadi, who said that the site received more than 5,000 visitors in its first month of operation, and the numbers are growing.
"We've been online for nine weeks and are fast approaching our 10,000[th] visitor to the site," Zainabadi, who received a Ph.D in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) last year, said. "I think that's a pretty good indication that we're on to something."
Currently, the Web site only operates its real-time features during weekends from 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., and only contains information about seven clubs: Caprice, Estate, Gypsy, Liquor Store, Pearl, Royale and Underbar.
"We have started small in order to test the idea and business model," Zainabadi said. "Once we have ironed out the kinks, we're definitely going to expand."
The service also utilizes Facebook.com and Twitter.com to keep club-hoppers updated on upcoming events and the atmosphere at various venues, such as the April 2 tweet, "Tufts Party @ Royale — long lines already forming outside."
Zainabadi also said that he plans to introduce a text messaging service for those who plan on heading out on the town but don't have access to a computer or a smartphone, and thus can't check InstantNightLife.com or its Facebook and Twitter offshoots.
"We are working on a short-code text messaging service where anyone can text the name of the club and what they want to know and get a text back with the answer," Zainabadi explained. An iPhone application for the website will be launched on April 16 due to the high demand from the website's users, along with an upcoming mobile-friendly version of the site itself, he said.
"I would be much more likely to use it as an iPhone app," senior Ty Burdette said. "I feel like it would be good for when you're already out and looking for somewhere else to go. If you're at another club, or pre-gaming at a bar, it would be more useful for picking an alternate location rather than trying to figure out where you're going at the beginning of the night."
Zainabadi stressed that the Web site is not paid by the featured clubs, which means that users can receive unbiased information.
"We have their blessing, but we perform the updates independently of them," Zainabadi said. The information featured on the Web site is provided by scouts employed by InstantNightLife.com, each of whom is sent to a club to relay information back to the website managers at regular intervals.
Freshman Sofia Poma explained that when she goes out in Boston she relies on her friends to let her know how packed the club is or how long the line is. "I think this Web site will be effective for the Boston nightlife because you can always count on the system to reply to your message, while your friends may be too busy dancing to reply to your text," she said.
The initial plan for the project arose from Zainabadi's personal observations of the Boston club scene.
"We were tired with the uncertainty associated with going out on the weekends," Zainabadi said. Through the website, he hopes people can make more intelligent decisions on where to go out and spend their money. "I personally think it's a good and worthwhile idea to pursue," he said. "This is a service I would have liked to have had, and when I found no one was doing it I decided to do it myself."
As far as growing and succeeding, Zainabadi thinks the Web site has a good chance, especially with the prevalence of smartphones and instant updating services.
"Hopefully we'll see more Web sites harnessing the power of mobile technology and social media to actually provide a useful service," he said.
Zainabadi and his colleagues are currently entertaining the possibility of expanding the site to club scenes outside Boston.
"We currently have no competition, so we definitely have our eyes on other major cities," he said.
An official launch party for the iPhone app is planned for April 16 at Underbar with no cover charge before 11:30 p.m.
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Alexa Sasanow contributed reporting to this article.
